With Every Heartbeat
by N1kki1984
Summary: Rachael Garcia wasn't sure what to expect when she arrived in New York, but when her life gets turned upside down friendship blossoms with a certain tall, dark, handsome detective...could it turn into something more!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

Rachael Garcia stood nervously in the elevator waiting for it to stop; she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _Thirty five floors, now just why did the crime lab have to be so high up?_

She hated elevators, but as she was going to be working in the lab on a daily basis, it was something Rachael would have to get used to as walking up the stairs wasn't even an option. She cracked her eyes open when she heard a snigger from the only other occupant of the elevator.  
"Not a fan of these things I take it?" Turning herself to see where the voice had come from, Rachael saw a man of similar height to her, with dirty blonde hair slightly spiked up in places and eye glasses perched upon his face. He gave her a warm smile and extended his hand. "Danny Messer."

Rachael let out the breath she didn't know she was still holding and shook Danny's hand. "Rachael Garcia, and no, I am most definitely not a fan of these...things. But stairs are out of the question." She said with a hint of laughter in her voice, glancing down at her shoes. Danny couldn't help but notice the accent, and the looks. He had to admit Rachael was rather nice to look at – not that he would go telling the wife that - with long honey blonde hair in big loose curls and a thick full fringe that framed her face perfectly, average height for a woman, wearing loose fitting low-rise denim jeans and a deep purple, v-neck t-shirt that accentuated her feminine curves. Danny cleared his throat and decided to find out just who this doll was. "So, you ain't from around here are you?"  
"Ah, no, that obvious, huh?" She giggled. "I'm actually from London, but I've spent the last three years in Miami."

Danny nodded. "So why'd you move, from London I mean?"  
Rachael shrugged unsure herself of the exact reasons why she'd left England, she could go into detail but with only five floors to go she opted for the easy option "You know, I don't know why, I kinda just did."

"Fair enough." Slightly dissatisfied with her answer, Danny decided not to push her for any other reasons, besides they didn't really know each other so who was he to pry into her life?  
The elevator pinged and the doors slowly opened, Rachael looked up at the numbers, _35, phew at last._ "Well this is my stop." Glancing at her watch and realising she was almost late; Rachael stepped towards the exit, about to speak.

"This is me too, crime lab." Danny stated raising his eyebrows at Rachael's confused look. "I'm a CSI."  
"Ah! Well, maybe you could help me then. I need to find Mac Taylor, I kinda forgot the way to his office"  
"Sure I can. So I take it you're the new lab tech?" Danny questioned, amused at the thought of Adam having to contend with a new person who wasn't only bubbly, but female and very attractive; he could picture the sight in his head, hoping he would be around to witness a socially awkward lab geek more than likely become a bumbling wreck just at the sight of Rachael, something he had witnessed with some of the other women in the lab, mainly Stella, coming in to close proximity of Adam.

Rachael followed him through the glass corridors, purely amazed by the place. "Yes, that would be me. And I'm almost late for my first day."  
Danny led her to the glass office knocking on the door "Here we are, well it was nice to meet you Rachael, I'm sure I'll see you around."  
"Nice to meet you too, Danny, thanks for showing me where to go."

**XOXOXOX  
**

The door in front of Rachael opened and she felt that wave of nervousness re-appear. The stern face of Mac Taylor appeared, and softened when he saw who was stood before him. "Miss Garcia, come on in"

"Thanks." Rachael looked around the office as she entered, seeing the plaques and pictures that graced the walls. She sat in the hard, not very appealing chair across from the fancy leather one Mac had sat himself in behind his desk. He gave her the relevant paperwork to fill out before she could get started, a few minutes later she passed the papers, along with the pen back across the table where Mac put them into a folder.  
"So I see you've already met Danny, I'll show you to your locker and introduce you to everyone else."  
They walked around through the lab finding Stella Bonasera - a stupendously attractive woman with even more stupendous high heels...how was she supposed to catch criminals in shoes like that? - With Danny and Sheldon Hawkes in the break room where Rachael was briefly introduced and quickly put at ease with the smiles and genuine niceness of her colleagues. Now she found herself, along with Mac and Danny who seemed to have tagged along for the tour heading in to the AV lab where she saw two people, a man and pregnant woman both laughing at something, unaware of the presence at the doorway until Mac noisily cleared his throat. "Lindsay, Adam, I would like you to meet our new lab tech, Rachael Garcia."

**XOXOXOX  
**

An hour later Rachael had been introduced to everyone and had been given the grand tour she found herself sat in the DNA lab quietly processing samples for Stella whilst Adam sat opposite working his way through a box of broken bottles, trying to process the shards and piece them together in hope of finding something, anything to link them to the suspect that was waiting in holding. She looked up from what she was doing to see a very flustered looking Adam. "Any luck?"

Adam awkwardly glanced over to her. "Ah...um, well no...not exactly... there is nothing, and I'm stumped, Flack has a suspect waiting and I have nothing, you have anything?"

"Maybe...got the DNA from under the vic's fingernails running through the database. Fingers crossed we get a hit." Rachael drummed her fingers on the desk whilst staring at the screen, almost willing it to come up with something useful. Sighing at the lack of solid evidence they had against Richard Clifton, who was, unbeknown to them, starting to get very agitated in the PD, she decided to attempt to strike up conversation with Adam to hopefully break the ice a little between them. "So, how long have you been working here?"

Adam opened his mouth to reply when the machine between them frantically beeped, he watched Rachael's eyes light up as the screen gave her the results from the search. "You got something good?"

Rachael grinned back at him. "I certainly do, it's a match to Richard Clifton, who has priors for domestic abuse. I'll call Stella." A few moments later she hung up the phone and stretched in her seat, her shirt rising up just slightly, revealing a slither of skin, causing Adam to blush...something which didn't go unnoticed. She smirked to herself discreetly, checking her watch; lunch time. "Right I need coffee and food, care to join me?"  
Adam stared at her uneasily. "Um...well, I erm..." But without warning Rachael grabbed his arm dragging him towards the exit.

"Come on, I'm new here and haven't got a clue where the best places to grab something to eat are." She pouted, noting the reluctant look upon Adam's face. "Let's go, I'm not taking no for an answer."  
Knowing this was one argument that he wasn't going to win he gave in. "Fine, fine, let me...um...go get my jacket."

**XOXOXOX**

**A/N Nikki:**Well here is chapter one of our new story, this is the first time we've attempted a New York fic so I hope y'all like it and hope that we've not made anyone too much out of character. I would like to thank my partner in crime for helping me do this, so big thanks M! Anyways, we'd love some feedback and reviews from you lovely readers.

**A/N Mary: **Hello! Hope you all liked the first chapter! As my fabulous co-writer Nikki says, we would love, love, LOVE some feedback, so anything you give us will be greatly appreciated :) :D...Cheers, dears!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two:**

Lunch, consisting of a giant toasted panini with ham, mozzarella and the slightest hint of jalapeño, was fabulous. Adam took her to a large and only half-filled cafe, with an enormous mural of Central Park in the autumn adorning the back wall next to the kitchen, and fairy lights strung up from the ceiling, meeting up in the middle. The waitresses were friendly, in their black slacks, white shirts, and navy-blue aprons.  
"This place has a really nice ambience, Adam." Rachael took a bit of her panini and set it back down on the plate. Adam nodded, too nervous to even think up a simple reply. "Thank you for bringing me."

"Yeah...no problem." He waved the thought away, uncomfortable that all of the attention in their midst had just landed on him. "So," He cleared his throat quickly, glancing down at his half-eaten chicken and cheese baguette. "Uh, tell me about yourself. You, you said you're from, uh, London, right? In England." Idiot, he mentally chided himself, of course she knew London was in England. She'd only lived there.

Rachael nodded. "The very same." She knew he was just trying to avoid talk about either himself, or anything else at the minute, so she went on. "I, uh, lived with my Mum and Dad. Suzanne and Michael Garcia. My brother lived with us, too, until he was nineteen, but...didn't pan out quite as well. Have you ever been to London?"

Adam quickly shook his head. "No, no, I haven't...but I have been to Manchester. Once. Just once. I-it's never gonna happen again. Anyway, what's it like?"

"London? It's cold, and well quite wet. Where are you from?"

"Phoenix, Arizona. It's, ah, supremely hot..."

"Oh." Rachael nodded. She would get Adam Ross out of his shell if it killed her. "So, not much rain, then?"

"No. And no snow. I-I cannot stand snow." Adam was visibly disgusted.

Rachael grinned to herself while Adam picked up his baguette. Now they were getting somewhere. "Like a phobia, can't stand, or just a general dislike?"

**XOXOXOX**

Upon returning back to her desk, Rachael found another small pile of DNA samples she was needed to test. Adam was on a quick bathroom break, Mac and Stella had been called out on a case and everyone else was tied up. Thankfully, and unlike other labs she'd worked in, no one was bothering her. The music on the radio, something vaguely reminiscent of Bob Marley, was low and soothing. And the New York coffee was spectacular. She leant back in her chair, watching the machines do their work.

"Um, Rachael?"

Rachael spun round in her chair to view the voice from the door.

"Well, Adam." She smiled. The poor boy still looked unkempt. Hopefully he would get used to her being around...

"You can take your break now...i-if you want."

Rachael took a quick look at the GCMS. It would take a lot longer than her five minute break. "Yeah, alright." She stood up, shrugging out of her pristine-white lab coat and headed out of the door. Deciding it would take her all her break time to find the exit, she headed to the locker room. Hers was next to CSI Sonia Marsh, from the day shift. She was impossibly cranky. Rachael shimmied open her locker, pulled out her handbag and foraged around for her cell phone. Two missed calls – her mother, who had been worrying non-stop about the time differences – and six new texts; three how are yous, and three good lucks. She hurriedly replied to them and switched her phone onto silent and shoved it in her pocket. She sauntered back out into the corridor, up a set of stairs, straight, to the left and then into the lab only to be greeted by the back of someone in a suit. Someone very tall, with dark hair who was currently talking, rather loudly some might say, to Adam Ross.

"Adam, I got a suspect on ice, and I need those results." The voice, and its owner, was thoroughly impatient.

"Detective, I mean, ah, Flack, I don't have your results..." Adam was bright red, his hands darting into his pockets, and out again.

"But they were dropped off hours ago!"

"If you'd let me explain..." Adam looked down at the ground.

Rachael furrowed her eyebrows and stepped farther into the room. "Uh, is there a problem?"

The man in the suit whirled round, his hands set firmly on his hips, and Adam glanced up, thankful that 'The Suit' was distracted and would let up on him for a few seconds. He surveyed Rachael, egregiously bright, blue eyes scanning her from head to toe. He was tall, around 6" 2', in a crisp white shirt, deep blue silk tie, and black suit. He was, in all honesty, ridiculous handsome...as in, old movie star handsome. Rachael hadn't seen anything like him before. "Who are you?" His accent was deep and pure New York. And he didn't look impressed...

Rachael, standing there with what she hoped was a neutral expression, could barely focus properly on what the question was, never mind how she was supposed to answer it. She folded her arms and swallowed. "I'm, uh, Rachael. Rachael Garcia." She extended her hand. He was still looking at her, his gaze never leaving her eyes. "I'm the new lab tech..."

The Suit nodded and cautiously took her hand, firmly, and shook it once. Oh, God. Rachael felt her heart going into a ridiculous beat-thud-beat motion. Breath, Rachael. "Don Flack."

Oh. This was Detective Flack. "Hi." She managed to sound like her normal self, except her normal self would be composed and manage to say something more eloquent than her astounding opening line of 'hi'.

"Rachael, Detective Flack has a-a, like an issue with, uh-"

"I had someone drop off two samples earlier, I thought maybe Adam here would have them done by now." Flack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was distinctly quieter with Rachael than he had been with Adam.

Rachael cleared her throat. "Actually, Adam was on a break, so I said I'd do the samples for him."

"Oh."

She stepped past Flack, further into the room surprised that she could actually move from her spot, and over to the machine, still busy whirring and grinding away. "Fourteen minutes left." She turned to Flack. "And I'm sorry. It had nothing to do with Adam." She was tempted to say that she thought he should apologize for being so loud and shouty towards the innocent party, but she didn't have the nerve.

Perching herself on the stool in front of the counter, opposite Adam, she tried to busy herself with processing some other evidence. Spotting Flack from the corner of her eye, still standing behind her she sighed "Is there something else you want?" Turning her head slightly towards him, waiting for his reply.

"Nope, just waiting for those results"

"Well you'll be waiting for..." She glanced back to the machine. "Eleven minutes."

"That's fine I'll just wait right here"

Rachael could feel Flack's stare drilling into the back of her head, she had expected him to leave and come back once the results were done, but no, there he was leaning on the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest making Rachael feel _very_ uncomfortable. Unable to take much more she abruptly spun round in her seat to face him. "Okay, just stop!" She cringed at herself for snapping like that but this was just too much, "I will page you with the results once I have them. Oh, and I think you owe Adam an apology. There was no need to shout at him, if you'd of let him explain, it wasn't his fault" Ah, well maybe she did have the nerve, Rachael had a tendency of ranting and rambling on when she felt uncomfortable. Realising she had potentially made a total fool out of herself for overreacting she felt a flush rising in her cheeks.

Flack smirked over in her direction before turning to Adam "You're right, sorry Adam I shouldn't have yelled at you"

The beep of the machine grabbed the attention of all three of the occupants of the room, easing the tension that had quickly risen; Rachael cleared her throat and grabbed the paper that the machine had just spat out. "Okay, we have a match" she turned the paper round to show Flack the results.

"Thanks" Flack turned on his heel to leave the room, pausing just outside the door. "Oh, and Rachael, you look cute when you're mad" He disappeared out of sight with a smile. Leaving both Adam and Rachael shocked, Adam because Flack had _actually _apologised instead of just storming out and Rachael because she couldn't quite believe that she'd got the nerve to say what she did.

**XOXOXOX**

**A/N Nikki: **Okay, first off a huge thanks to everyone that's added WEH to their faves or alerts and also big thanks to ioanhoratio for the lovely review. So here was chapter two, again M & I would love to see some reviews. :D

**A/N: Mary:** Helloha! Thanks to everyone who read, alerted and reviewed, it really, really means a lot to myself and Nikki...although, we really would adore a few more of them, hint hint ;) Cheers!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

Sitting as his desk later that night, shirt sleeves rolled up to the forearm, in his comfy black leather swivel chair, glaring at the stack of paperwork in front of him, Don Flack decided that he was not, under usual circumstances, a man to be easily ruffled; at work, with his family, even getting hassle in the supermarket – he could take care of a problem without even the slightest flinch. This Garcia chick, however, with her long swooshy hair, even longer legs and her damned infectious laugh was really sticking on his mind and getting on his nerves. God, she was pretty. She just flounced in out of nowhere and started winning everyone over with her incredibly sunny disposition and easy-going smile. Well, Flack was having none of it. He was a tough, hardened, cynical New Yorker. He didn't care how many times she looked up from her work to smile at him as he walked past those glass walls umpteen times a day: he would not encourage this...thing, whatever it was, to go any farther. He didn't need it, honestly he didn't.

Relationships had never really been his forte anyway. He'd always been hailed as some sort of ladies' man, but he wasn't really; it's just that he never gelled with any of the girls he'd been with. Some were either too bossy, too high-maintenance, too quiet, too willing, or else they'd found fault with him: he was too manly, too confusing, not a good enough dancer, his place was a mess, his mother called him too often. There was always something.

The last time someone had been occupying his mind this much was in tenth grade, when he'd spent all summer fawning over Stephanie March, trying to gather a crumb of courage to ask her to the dance, and then when he did, she'd turned him down flatly in favor of David Allen, a poetic type of boy, with a thick carpet of hair falling into his eyes. Shortly after that, Stephanie dyed her hair black and mastered the art of frowning.  
Rachael was different though. She was funny, intelligent, practical, gorgeous, not bossy, not a nag and definitely not high-maintenance. This was definitely some sort of clinging infatuation that wasn't going away easily.

And it definitely wasn't curing his paperwork issue, either.

**XOXOXOX**

A shrill, incessant BEEP! roused Rachael from her sleep and, with a long groan, she turned round and slammed her hand down on the square, white alarm clock. It was the one she'd taken with her from England, and the one she'd had since she was sixteen. With a cautious glance, she realised it was ten minutes to seven...and she groaned again. Not having to work until nine-thirty, she had been planning a bracing jog around Central Park, and then a steaming hot cup of slow roasted coffee and a ham-lettuce-and-tomato-bagel afterwards. After that, a shower turned up as hot as it could go, and then she'd be fresh and rejuvenated for the day ahead. However, as her eyes drifted shut, everything went a bit hazy, and she swiftly decided that she could postpone this jog for another ten or so minutes.

The next thing she knew, she'd stretched out, yawned and opened her eyes to the blue and green arrows on her clock pointing to eight-thirty-five she gasped and shot up out of her bed, leaving a cluster of fluffy blankets on the floor behind her. Cursing under her breath, she ran into the bathroom, took a freezing cold five minute shower, brushed her teeth, dried her hair, and pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans and a deep blue v-neck sweater that fell just below her hips. She'd concluded that a simple pair of black pumps would be wiser than the heels for getting around in. It took fifteen minutes to get to the lab from her apartment, so she set off and hailed a taxi.

The taxi driver - Alberto Falcone...Rachael had always had a fondness for checking out the little license on the dashboard. - was a short, dark man in his late forties with definite Italian heritage. "You in a hurry, Miss?"

Rachael glanced up from her current task of rifling through her bag. "Yeah...kind of...didn't leave myself with much time this morning."

Alberto nodded. "You from England?"

"Yes." They were stopped at a set of traffic lights, and the traffic was, for lack of a better word, intense.

"My old man travelled there when he was a kid. Met a lady there, but she broke his heart. They had plans to marry 'n everythin'. She waited till she had the ring, then she ran off with a Lord or a Duke or something high-falootin' like that. Fortunate though, on account of my Pa going home on a boat, standing lookin' over the edge, when a girl walked up to him, sayin' she'd thought she hadn't seen him in a long time and how had he been keepin'. Turns out, they'd lived in the same town, and she'd worked in her daddy's bakery, the one my Pa always went to, and she baked his bread for him every morning, so needless to say, she'd noticed him. He didn't recognize her without her little baker's hat and all." Alberto cleared his throat and rolled his window down a fraction.

Rachael had been sitting, ensconced in the story, but then it had come to an abrupt halt. "What happened then?"

"She's kept on bakin' his bread for the last fifty-two years, and never a cross word." Alberto flashed Rachael a smile in the rear-view mirror. Rachael bowed her head and smiled to herself. "You spoken for?"

"No, definitely not." She laughed.

"Shame." Alberto shook his head, slowly. "For him, I mean." He swiftly added.

"What about you? You got someone to bake your bread?"

Alberto let out a long, luxurious laugh. "Yeah, ha! Her name's Laura, a real doll, you know. We've got four kids, one lone boy in a sea of three girls. God love him."

Rachael nodded. "I have a brother, too. My family are all still in England, though."

"And yet, here you are...out exploring the world, making your own way. Well, more power to you. Kids these days don't see enough of the world. They don't think outside the box." Conversation quietened down as they started moving, and Alberto turned the radio up slightly, but not so loud as to come across as rude. As she made her way into the lab, Rachael was pleased that she'd missed out on her early-morning start; otherwise she mightn't have been so enlightened.

**XOXOXOX**

In the lab, Rachael had been snowed under for hours, and eventually – after skipping breakfast - she'd been forced by her empty stomach to take her lunch. She sat in the break room, idly flicking through one of those glossy magazines that had been left lying around.

"Oh, hey there! Rachael Garcia! You're the new lab-girl, right?" A pretty brunette with a ridiculously mesmerizing smile walked into the room wielding a plate of salad from the lab's cafeteria. She set her plate down and extended her hand to Rachael. "I'm Detective Angell...you can call me Jess, though."

"Oh, hello." Rachael's mouth was, embarrassingly, still half-full of her chicken-and-bacon sandwich.

"England! I was told you weren't from here, but I couldn't remember where. And how're you liking the change?" Jessica Angell seated herself directly across from Rachael, removed the saran wrap from the top of her plate and pulled a plastic fork from her pocket.

"Oh, yeah, it's brilliant. I love it. Everyone's so nice, and the work's fantastic."

Det. Angell grinned again, almost surveying Rachael. "Hmm. You've made a very good impression already, I'll tell you that. I just had to stop by to meet the newbie I've been hearing about all day."

"Sorry?"

Mysteriously, Jessica shrugged and popped a leaf of lettuce in her mouth and wouldn't say anything else on the subject. "Have you met Lindsay yet?"

"Briefly, she seems nice. In fact pretty much everyone I've met has been great."

Jess cocked an eyebrow in Rachael's direction. "Pretty much everyone? Okay, so who hasn't given you such a warm welcome?"

"Oh, it was nothing, really, just a misunderstanding." Rachael laughed, noting the look on Jess's face she figured that she wasn't going to get away without an explanation of the said 'misunderstanding'. "Detective Flack was giving Adam a hard time about some evidence." Rachael could feel her cheeks heating up remembering his last comment before he had left the room; she just knew that she was more than likely starting to look like a beetroot. "Ahem, like I said it was a, ah, misunderstanding."

Alright, so Jessica had heard about the 'incident' that had happened in the lab the day before, not many people dared to speak back to Don Flack, especially not any of the newbies. She just wasn't sure if Rachael knew that she was the talk of the building for not just for being the new girl!

They talked on for another twenty minutes, both had delved into talking about their families and Rachael had briefly talked about her time in Miami at which point Jessica was summoned by her pager.

In her wake, Detective Angell left a highly discombobulated Rachael wondering who, if anyone, she had made a good impression on.

**XOXOXOX**

Shortly after Angell had left, Rachael found herself wrapped up in her thoughts. Her thoughts had turned to her apartment. Even after being in New York for over a month she was yet to finish unpacking and making the place her own. The bedroom and bathroom were the only rooms she was happy with and only because they didn't have boxes strewn around. She had managed to bag herself the perfect little place in Manhattan that she had dreamt about having since she discovered that she was moving to New York. It was small, but it wasn't like she really needed all that much room with it being just her living there alone.

She took a sip of the now room-temperature Diet Coke that had been sat in front of her for the last forty minutes, spotting Mac coming her way, then she quickly took a glance at the clock above the door, noticing the time. She panicked as Mac got closer. She'd been so ensconced with analyzing all thoughts coming and going in her rambling mind that time had gotten the better of her and she was supposed to have been back in the lab ten minutes ago. Fantastic. Late to start and now late back from lunch...this wasn't exactly the most shining day in her history of employment.

"Rachael, I've been looking for you."

Rachael shot up out of her cozy, deep-red seat with the wooden arm rests. The furniture in the break room wasn't attractive, but it was functional, and it was exceedingly comfortable. "Mac! I'm sorry...I just, I completely lost track of the time. I was just about to head back to the lab." Rachael managed to stop herself before she got carried away and started rambling again.

He shot her a reassuring smile. "It's fine Rachael. I hear from Adam you did a lot of work on the McGillis case today. You deserve a break after that. Actually I wanted to speak to you about the request you've put in for doing some field work?"

Rachael felt herself relax slightly on realizing she wasn't in trouble. "Um...yes, I did a little bit of field work in Miami, and well, I was hoping that you'd let me get out there. I mean, I know I've not been here long at all, but, you know, it was just a...a thought." She tried her very best to look entirely composed and resolute.

Mac couldn't help but laugh at Rachael's rambling. "Rachael, I know, but I've had a word with Lieutenant Caine and he's told me how good you were in the field. Plus with Lindsay only here part time right now I could use an extra pair of hands. We'll sort out all of the relevant paper work but I can't let you out right away."

Rachael grinned, a sudden burst of glee overwhelming her. "Mac, that's great. Thank you. So, so much."

She had adored the field work in Miami, while it wasn't much. The lab was fine...if you wanted to spend every day looking around at a bunch of microscopes and glass walls. Sometimes you needed to actually see the thing firsthand, to actually go out, find the evidence and just know that you were helping someone. Of course, she wasn't an enormous fan of the blood, gore and the fact that she was always in the company of a dead body, but she figured, in time, that it would work itself out.

**XOXOXOX**

**Nikki A/N:** Hey!! So the next installment of the story, hope you all like it! I have to give all the credit for this to Mary for this peach of a chapter, which I love! Again, big thanks to all who have reviewed and added alerts so far; But we really would love some more!!

**Mary A/N**: Hola! May I just say that I really quite like this chappie...particularly Alberto Falcone. No idea where he came from, but I like him. Myself and Nikki would like to say a massive thanks to everyone who reviewed and alerted, because we are supremely pleased to get feedback...but we definitely need more than one review before we post chapter four, so please press the button and we might just get a bit more Flack in the next chappie ;) Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: **

She had waited, however impatiently, an entire month for this moment. Ever since Mac had told Rachael she could go out and do field work, she had been itching to get out, so when he'd told her to grab a kit and head out with Danny to a crime scene in Queens she pretty much ran to the Avalanche waiting in the parking lot.

By the time Danny had got to the vehicle, Rachael was leaning against the side with her arms folded to her body, tapping her right foot on the ground impatiently. "Finally! You took your time." She grinned.

Danny laughed "So you sure you ready for this, Garcia?" They both stepped up into the car and headed towards the scene that was waiting for them.

"Oh, yeah. I've waited a whole month for this. I'm more than ready."

**XOXOXOX**

Arriving at the crime scene, Rachael and Danny grabbed their kits and headed towards the small parking lot where the murder had taken place. Even though the weather was quite cold, the sunshine was still strongly filtering through the clouds; lifting her sunglasses from her face, Rachael felt a slight flutter inside her; not because she was overexcited to be out in the field but because of the tall figure heading towards her.

"Well, well, well, Mac finally let you out." Don Flack said with a smile as he held aloft the yellow tape for the two CSI's to pass under.

"Yes! _Finally_." She stopped herself from saying any more, knowing that she'd turn into a rambling lunatic otherwise. "So what've we got here?" Rachael was pretty keen to get working, hopefully proving herself invaluable to Mac. Maybe if she did a good enough job he'd still let her out when Lindsay returned after having the baby.

Flack hesitated a moment before producing his small, black notebook out of the purple silk-lined inside pocket of his black suit-jacket. "We got a Chloe Johnston, 21; lives in the block across the street, her friend found her this morning when she was heading out to work."

"Okay, let's go." Rachael turned to Danny who was standing to her right with a small smirk gracing his face. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen anyone as enthusiastic about being at a crime scene before.

"Sure thing." He led Rachael over to where the body lay crumpled on the floor. He crouched down besides Chloe's petite form, "Looks to me like blunt force trauma, something hit her hard."

Rachael scanned the surrounding area searching for something that could be their murder weapon. "Hey Danny, I got blood drops heading towards that skip over there."

"I think you'll find that that thing over there is a dumpster." Danny stood and stepped towards Rachael with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes "Don't mock me, Messer."

Flack walked to where the two were standing. "You found somethin' over here?"

"Actually yes, Rachael here found gravitational blood drops leading towards the, what was it...the _skip_, over there" Danny laughed pointing to the dumpster in the corner of the parking lot.

A confused Flack raised his eyebrows "The what?"

"She means a dumpster." Danny whispered.

"Oh, I see." Flack smirked. Rachael's stomach was doing back flips, she had seen that look from him several times before and each time it had the same effect on her. She cleared her throat and shook her head, trying to rid the thoughts that were swirling around inside the brain.

"Okay, enough of the teasing. So presuming that this is Chloe's blood, it looks like whoever killed her carried something over to the _dumpster_." She emphasized the word which rewarded her with a snigger from the two men standing at either side of her.

A light bulb went off in Danny's head, "The trail ends here" he peered into the dumpster they were now standing in front of, he pulled out a swab from his kit and took a sample of the crimson coloured smear he spotted inside. "Boom...I got blood inside."

Rachael tilted her head to one side and raised her eyebrows. "The killer coulda thrown the murder weapon in here."

Danny and Flack turned and smiled at each other before turning their attention back to Rachael still smiling. She knew what that meant, she was the newbie; so that meant she did the dirty work..._dumpster diving_.

"Yeah, yeah, I know what that look means, don't gloat." Turning on her heel she groaned and went back to the Avalanche the get herself ready.

Flack let his gaze follow her swaying hips as she walked back to the car. "She's hot."

"Oh yeah, but I'm married. You on the other hand are not." Danny grinned at his friend who was eyeing the pretty blonde in the distance.

**XOXOXOX**

Danny had headed back to the body, photographing her wounds and collecting any evidence he found. Flack had gone back to speak to the distraught friends who were still stood on the other side of the yellow tape.

Rachael studied both men as they worked whilst she walked over to the dumpster; Danny gave her a smirk as she passed him clad in the blue coveralls with her long hair now in a ponytail. She glared at him in return before turning her attention back to Flack; he turned and gave her a quick smile before once again attempting to extract information from Chloe Johnston's friend, Audrey Lewis, a tall redhead with enormous hazel-coloured Bambi eyes.

She couldn't deny that she was attracted to him; it was impossible not to be. After the first disastrous introduction she had taken it upon herself to start again. She'd found him at his desk in the precinct and made a point of apologizing for snapping at him and then proceeded to re-introduce herself. And that was it, she was hooked. Shaking her head at herself, she stood with her hands on her hips, now just how was she going to get into that thing?

Determined to somehow get into it unassisted, Rachael gripped the side of the dumpster, which was just about level with her chest, the smell radiating from it beginning to put her off slightly. No, she couldn't wuss out, she had to do this, prove to everyone that she could do her job.

Startled by a voice that had snapped her from her thoughts "You need a hand?"

Quickly turning to face the handsome detective that had been filling her thoughts just moments earlier, she felt a warm flush fill her cheeks as she turned back to where she had been facing, and it was then that she decided that there wasn't much chance of her getting in by her own strength. "Um, yeah, please."

Her breath caught in her throat as she felt Don's hands on her hips lifting her up onto the edge of the dumpster, letting go when she finally got her footing. She gripped the side of the thing, determined not to fall out, not to let her now slightly weakened legs get the better of her.

Danny laughed to himself at the scene that had just unfolded before him. He made his way over to Rachael and Flack. "You got anything yet?"

Rachael pulled a disgusted face at the things she was digging about in to hopefully find the murder weapon. "Uh, no; not quite yet."

She looked up at a very amused Danny, "You know, another pair of hands in here wouldn't hurt..."

"Aw, come on, Rach; you're doing a great job, you don't need me."

She stopped what she was doing and raised an eyebrow at Danny. "Wow, nicknames already, huh, Mess?"

Getting back to the task that had been delegated to her Rachael began to feel nauseous at the smell which was rapidly getting worse. She moved a large black bag and uncovered a bloody baseball bat, smiling triumphantly and her findings. "I think I may have found what we are looking for."

**XOXOXOX**

Rachael headed towards Danny in the lab concentrating on the evidence that had been collected in the parking lot. "Hey, what do you need me to do?"

Danny looked at her and smiled. "Well, at least you got rid of the smell." He sniggered. "I'll let you take the baseball bat, seeing as you found it."

"Yeah, you'd better. I had to shampoo my hair four times so I deserve to process that." Rachael laughed taking the bat from the evidence pile. She matched the blood to Chloe Johnston and pulled several prints which were running through AFIS. She hated this part; the intolerable waiting. Hopefully they would get something.

Danny peered over the top of his glasses hearing Rachael sigh, deciding to take this as an opportunity to ask a few questions, he cleared his throat. "So, you and Flack, huh?"

Rachael lifted her head, surprised at what Danny seemed to be saying "What about me and Flack?"

"Oh, I dunno; you looked pretty cozy at the crime scene." Danny pushed.

She couldn't help but laugh, Flack and her, she was pretty sure there was no way he would be interested in her. "Danny, please; I don't know what you think you saw but we are friends, co-workers no different to you and me, or to Adam and me."

The screen next to Rachael beeped; she had a match grinning successfully over at Danny. A) because they had a suspect and B) she had completely dodged his interfering, she knew where he was heading with the questions.

"Danny, we have a suspect. Thomas Butler, has a rap sheet as long as his arm"

"Okay, I'll call Flack to bring him in."

**XOXOXOX**

A few hours later Rachael found herself heading to the interrogation room with Danny by her side "So you wanna do this?"

She gave him a lopsided smirk. "I certainly do"

Danny had spoken to Mac, and practically begged him to let Rachael 'chat' with the suspect; of course he'd said yes, from what he had heard she'd been pretty good at getting a confession out of suspects back in Miami so he himself was heading down to see her at work.

Mac appeared alongside Flack heading towards the interrogation. "Okay Rachael; Don will be in there with you and Danny and myself will be behind the glass if you need anything."

"Thanks Mac, I'll be fine." She said then turned to Don "After you."

Rachael walked into the room, exceptionally confident; they had everything to convict Thomas Butler of killing Chloe Johnston.

She sat in the seat opposite him; he reeked of beer and looked like a scumbag with his shaved head, many tattoos gracing his thick neck and his dark, evil eyes glaring at her whilst at the same time showing no emotion. "Damn, NYPD detectives just get hotter and hotter. How 'bout you let me take you out sometime?"

Rachael glared back at him with her own emotionless stare, the guy repulsed her, but she wasn't going to show him anything and chose to ignore his proposition. She shoved a picture of Chloe in front of his face. "Why'd you kill her?"

"Naw, never seen her before. I dunno what you talking about" His voice sounded cold and his thick New York accent came through with aplomb.

"Really?" Rachael let the corner of her mouth tug upwards in a sardonic manner, "Then how come your DNA was under her fingernails and your prints were on the baseball bat that killed her?"

Butler shrugged his shoulders "Maybe you planted 'em."

"Nice try Mr. Butler, but you know that won't cut it; so why don't you just confess and tell us why you did it, huh?"

Thomas Butler's eyes blazed. "Bitch owed me money, she deserved it."

Rachael emerged from the room, pleased with herself. She walked towards Mac and Danny who had both been watching her in action. "Nice work, Garcia."

"I just wish they were all that simple." She sighed; Danny excused himself from the pair and headed towards Flack who had left the same room Rachael had just been occupying.  
"Danny said you did a great job today, and you did very good in there."

"Thanks Mac." She wearily rubbed her face "I gotta say, I love working in the lab but field work...I dunno, it's just more satisfying."

"Well, hopefully we can let you out more often."

They headed back to the lab, Rachael had to admit; today had been great but she was very much looking forward to spending her day off the following day shopping with Stella.

**XOXOXOX **

**Nikki A/N:** Hey, well as promised chapter four with plenty of Flack in it :D So once again thanks to everyone that's reviewed, added to faves and alerts. Would really love to see some more reviews though, pretty please!!! Thanks again, Nik :D

**Mary A/N:** Hola! Phew, chapter four already, can't believe it! Many thanks to everyone who read/alerted/reviewed, but we really would love, love, LOVE more reviews, so press the wee button? Cheers!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: **

Stella stepped off the subway train and made her way to the street above; she had already discovered that, like herself, Rachael was also a very keen shopper. So she was heading over to Rachael's place before taking full advantage that they both had the day off by doing some well earned retail therapy.

She stepped into the elevator and pushed the button to the fourth floor. Scanning around the box, Stella took note of the people she was sharing the space with; an extremely tall, tired looking man who appeared to be in his late 30s' who gave her a curt nod and a petite elderly lady with a warm smile gracing her features. The elevator came to a stop and with a quiet 'ding' the doors slowly opened.

Making her way down the corridor of the newly decorated building, Stella came to Rachael's door and, knocking lightly, she waited for a response.  
Rachael cursed herself for not organising her belongings sooner as she frantically rummaged through the pile of boxes for shoes, of course she had unpacked her clothes and shoes but it appeared that the ones she wanted to wear right now had somehow ended up in a box that wasn't supposed to have shoes in.

She groaned as she heard the knock at the door, signalling Stella's arrival. Stumbling over her own feet as she raced to the door before pulling it open "Hi Stell, come on in...sorry about the mess, I haven't gotten round to sorting everything out."

"I was the same way when I moved into my new place. If you need a hand just ask, you know."

"Thanks, but I think I should be okay." Rachael said whilst she pulled on her black knee high boots. "Okay, I'll grab my keys and I think we're good to go." 

**XOXOXOX**

The pair, weighed down with shopping bags, dropped into the dramatically coloured booth in the small diner they had chosen to grab some lunch and refresh themselves for round two of the retail therapy. Glancing up from the menu she had picked up, Stella studied the younger woman in the seat opposite to her, "So, what you make of New York so far?"

Rachael looked up with a smile. "So far so good, although I'm not used to the cold just yet!"

After spending the day with Rachael, Stella could see why 'the new girl' was the talk of the lab, she was fitting in with the team so well and her infectious laugh and happy persona very rarely failed to make others smile. "So, I hear you did really well in the field. Mac was impressed."

"Well, it was a pretty cut and dry case. The guy confessed right away." Rachael put the menu down on the table in front of her and smiled.

"Still takes something to impress him like that, I also heard you impressed someone else too." Stella replied with a coy smile.

Rachael frowned "Really?" She arched an eyebrow.

The waitress arrived at the table and took their order before Stella could answer; they placed their order and continued with their chatting once the overtly-nice waitress had vanished from sight.  
The coy smile reappeared upon Stella's face. "Hmm, Well Danny told me that you and Flack are getting pretty friendly."

Rachael's heart landed with a thud in the pit of her stomach. "Ohh, not you too!" she groaned "Like I told Danny, we are friends. It's no different from Danny and me or me and Adam, Stella." The waitress brought the drinks to their table, both Rachael and Stella stopped their conversation again and watched as she did so and hurried away from them.

"Yes but Danny's married and Adam, well Adam is just Adam" The pair giggled together. Stella composed herself and leant forward slightly, lowering her voice as though she were about to divulge a secret of inordinate importance. "And Flack, well he's...very much single and very much into you."

Rachael nearly choked on the ice-tea that she was sipping at Stella's last comment. "What?!" She screeched. "Oh no, he is not, Stella!"

Stella couldn't help but laugh at the younger woman sat across from her; clearly that girl couldn't read a guy when they flirted, and to her Rachael and Flack would made a great couple. Maybe they just needed a slight push. She was getting carried away thinking about ways to get them together and for a moment forgot that Rachael was sitting across from her. Well, that was until she gasped and shrieked rather loudly, "Stell, what are you plotting?"

"Nothing, nothing at all..." She replied with a guilty look spread across her face. The pair finished their drinks and paid as they headed out of the quaint diner.

They walked down the street together quietly chatting with arms full of shopping bags heading towards the subway for the short journey to their apartments. "Hey Stella, please don't try to put your matchmaking skills to use unless I'm not going to be involved in it." Rachael laughed, re-approaching the subject that had been broached earlier in the day.

"And why wouldn't you want that, huh Rach?" Stella quipped

"Just because, okay, Stell? Right, this is my train, thank you for a fantastic day of shopping; it was just what I needed. I'll see you tomorrow." Rachael gave Stella a small hug before stepping on to the train in front of her.  
**  
XOXOXOX**

Reaching her apartment Rachael juggled with her keys and the shopping she had purchased, she eventually stepped into her lounge, tossing the keys onto the coffee table and dumping the bags on the floor.

She headed into the kitchen and turned the kettle on; a nice cup of coffee would was just what she needed. She _would_ get this place in order, she sighed. Walking back to her lounge, she moved the boxes stuffed with her belongings around until she came across the ones that she was looking for, heavily scribbled on with a black indelible marker: KITCHEN.

Dragging the heavier of the two boxes across the floor to the kitchen, she began pulling out the bits and pieces that she had brought with her from Miami. The whistling of her bright red kettle stopped her; she snagged her favourite coffee cup from the cupboard above and swiftly made the coffee. Rachael went back to the lounge and slumped on the new large black leather L-shaped couch that had been delivered a week ago. She couldn't believe that she still hadn't completely unpacked everything, but she had been so busy working there just hadn't been enough time.

She sighed and moved from the couch onto the floor. No more messing, she simply had to get things done. Opening a smaller box that lay in front of her, Rachael began pulling out the small objects.

A slightly melancholic smile graced her face when she came across a small framed photograph; it was of the team in Miami, she could remember the day as it is only yesterday, it had been taken on her birthday the previous year; she had dragged everyone out for drinks, giving them no excuse not to come, she coerced them all with the same line: 'I'm not spending my 27th birthday alone'. Feeling a lump rise in her throat and the tears starting to burn in her eyes, she put the picture on her coffee table, faced down. Deep down she knew the photographs were the reason she hadn't unpacked, she was still sad that she'd had to leave Miami so quickly; and she still missed the friends that she'd made in her time there. She picked up the frame again and let her eyes scan the image, lingering on one person in particular; Eric Delko. Okay, so they weren't actually 'officially' together, they'd been out a few times before she left for New York but she had really liked him.

Rachael let her mind wander to what could have happened if she had just stayed. She groaned as she heard her cell phone ringing from her handbag, groaning once again when she read the call display, she cleared her throat as she answered. "Mum, hi; you okay?"

She listened intently to the voice on the other end of the line, _"Rachael, sweetheart, you've been crying; is everything okay" _Damn that woman; how did she know these things just from talking for three seconds over the phone?

"Mum, I'm fine; I went out in the field yesterday!" She said enthusiastically, hoping to divert her mother's attention.

_"That's good honey_." They chatted amicably for a few minutes before her mother stopped laughing and sighed heavily. Uh oh, that sigh; she'd heard that before. _"Look Rachael, I'm just going to cut to the chase here-"  
_  
Closing her eyes Rachael held her breath; she knew what was coming, too many times before had her mother called her with the same phrase."Okay, so where's he vanished to this time?"

_"Sweetheart, I don't know. I thought he'd learnt his lesson after last time"  
_  
Rachael was beyond pissed off. No more, that's what she'd said last time he'd pulled one of his stupid tricks. "Mum, I...I can't deal with him right now. Try to get in touch with him; you know that I can't have anything to do with this. Look, everything will be alright; he'll turn up, he always does." She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince more, herself or her mother.

_"Okay, okay. I'll let you know if I hear anything else, goodnight baby."_

"It'll be fine. Love you Mum, goodnight." She ended the call, knowing full well that this wasn't going as simple as she had hoped. 

**XOXOXOX**

**Nikki A/N: **Hey!! Thanks everyone for the reviews, alerts and what not!! We really do appreciate the feedback so much! Okay, so that was a nice girly chapter before a bit of upcoming excitement!!! Just a bit of an insight there, the next few chapters are quite interesting ;) Sorry that was a shameless plug, but hopefully you'll all keep reading and enjoying and reviewing (pretty please)

**Mary A/N:** Hola! Two reviews this time! Myself and Nikki are uberly pleased and would like to thank everyone again for reading, reviewing, alerting and favouriting, and we shall once again shamelessly bribe you with more Flack in the upcoming chapters...feel free to press the button :) Mary


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six:**

Bouncing out of the elevator, Rachael was relieved that her shift started slightly later today. After the previous days excessive amount of shopping that she had done with Stella, finally getting her apartment in order - and then there was the conversation with her mother that she didn't even want to begin to think about - she was well and truly worn out. The extra hour in bed had done her a lot of good and she felt completely ready for whatever was thrown at her...well, almost.

She headed into the locker room to dispose of her belongings. The winter chill was just beginning to attach itself to the city, so she had made sure that she'd put on a warm coat. Rachael spotted Lindsay enter the room behind her. "Hey, I didn't think you were in today?"

Lindsay turned to her, removing her coat revealing the stretched fabric over her expanding stomach. "Yeah, only for a few hours though. Mac needs all hands on deck with the John Doe case that was picked up last night."

After a bit of light, cheery banter, the pair headed out of the room and went their separate ways, Lindsay to the Trace lab and Rachael in search of Mac.

Through the glass walls in the distance she could make out the group of co-workers she was beginning to call her friends. They had all been so welcoming with her ever since she arrived. Rachael had to admit that she was extremely nervous when it came to moving and becoming the 'newbie', mainly due to her past experiences. Saying she had been given a frosty reception when she moved to Miami was a complete understatement; it took her months to even begin to fit in.

**XOXOXOX**

Rachael entered the room to see Danny, Stella and Mac all crouched over the computer. Adam was spinning in his seat, waiting for it all to load up correctly, for the pixels to stop being so jumpy, whilst clicking the lid of his pen open and shut. She smirked, knowing that Adam, with an absolute passion, hated having people leaning over his shoulder.

"Hi." she said quietly. Adam turned round very quickly, waving very briefly at her. Getting closer to them, the rest of the group turned to acknowledge her presence, Rachael spotted the commotion and a familiar figure on the screen in front of her. "Adam, back that up a sec."

"Um...sure..." Adam stopped the tape and played it back. The image of the John Doe, who was now lying on a cold metal slab in the morgue, moving down the dark alleyway before being attacked by two unknown men played back. With the two strangers vanishing almost as quickly as they arrived, the injured man stumbled further down the alley, clutching his chest, turning almost as if he knew the security camera was there, giving the current watchers a full view of his face.

Mac pointed at the screen, happy with their findings. "Hold it there, we have the perfect view."

Rachael stared at the screen in disbelief. It couldn't be him; he wasn't even in New York, or so she thought. Her mother had said he'd gone and done yet another disappearing act. But this was the face of Lucas Garcia, her big brother staring back at her on the screen. Adam swivelled round yet again, teetering on the very edge of being pleased with himself, when he glanced up at Rachael's round, sad eyes.

"Hey, Rachael, you okay?" He had long since stopped clicking the lid on his pen, now holding it between his index and middle fingers, a very concerned expression across his features.

She gasped at the sight. "Oh, no...that's...that's Lucas" She let out a sob as the four other occupants of the room turned to her in confusion. "He's my brother."

Feeling the tears start to slip from her eyes Rachael fled the room, very much aware of the stares she was receiving, but she didn't care. She just had to get out of there.

**XOXOXOX**

Standing on the steps outside the crime lab, Rachael was lost, broken, the tears beginning to cloud her vision. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying desperately to compose herself. Cautiously descending the few steps that remained in front of her, pulling her thin cardigan tighter around her body, she made her way down the bustling street, weaving through the people around her. It was the early evening, the sky a combination of blue and grey and completely cloudless. Winter in New York, Rachael was discovering, was even colder than in London, if that were possible.

Rachael walked for what seemed like a lifetime only to find she hadn't actually gotten very far. Noticing the distinct smell which she had become very familiar with over the few weeks of being in New York, coffee, of course she had smelt plenty of coffee before but she had found, what with all of the street vendors dotted about, it was something that she smelt so much more often. Spotting where it was coming from, she made her way over to the cart; Rachael took the cup from the vendor about to hand him the money she had taken from her purse only to find herself being stopped.

"I got this, and I'll take another, please."

Only vaguely recognising the voice that had just spoken, Rachael looked up to see who it was; Don Flack. Well...that was someone she hadn't expected to be buying her coffee.

She watched as he took his cup and paid for their drinks, he turned towards her. "Walk." Unsure if it was a question or more of a request, she silently nodded in reply. They made it to the park without really saying much, just barely passing pleasantries with each other. "So, may I ask as to why you were wondering around New York City, on your own?" He decided, purely out of politeness, not to mention the fact her eyes were slightly red and puffy.

Rachael shrugged her shoulders. "I had to get outta there."

Flack smirked, and they came to stop at a bench, where he promptly flopped down with a sigh. Rachael slipped past him and sat to the left of him, gripping her cup of coffee. A few groups and couples walked past them, chatting, laughing, fighting, each wrapped up in their own worlds. Flack took a sip of his coffee and shifted slightly. "You know, I used to come out here, people-watching. There used to be this old couple, who'd feed the ducks. I haven't seen 'em around in a while." He shook his head, wistfully. Rachael wasn't sure what to say, so she kept quiet and turned her head in the opposite direction. Flack glanced over at her, noticing, and not for the first time, that she had a tendency to fidget, tap her fingers against things, bite down on her lip and toss her hair out of the way even when it wasn't. "How's your coffee?"

"Hm?" Rachael snapped out of her reverie and turned back to the detective. "Oh, it's great, thanks." She shivered slightly as she watched the goings-on in the park before her. She shivered slightly and closed her eyes.

Flack sat forward, setting his coffee down in the space between them. "You cold?"

Before she could answer, he'd shimmied out of his thick and now heated-up black coat and placed it around her shoulders. There seemed to be a lot less space between them by now. Rachael cautiously looked up and immediately their eyes locked. "Thank you."

"No problem."

Rachael cleared her throat, put her coffee down and pushed her arms into the coat. "I, ah, I'm sorry for not being the most talkative tonight." She sighed. "Take it you heard what happened."

He was staring again. She could practically feel it. "Not exactly. And even if I did, I'd rather hear your side of things. Why don't you start from the beginning?"

Rachael swallowed. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have a sister."

"Do you get along?"

Flack grinned and tilted his head, showing off his dimples. "Not always."

"I didn't even know he was here." Rachael said, playing with the zipper on the coat; she looked over at Don with a sad, watery smile willing herself not to cry in front of him. Sighing she decided to fill him in on the details of the case that had made her roam the streets; "Lucas, my older brother, he, ah...he was the victim found in the alley way last night. I didn't know he was in New York, I thought he was still in Miami."

Don sat and listened to Rachael as she spoke about her brother. About how he appeared in Miami needing her help, that he had gotten himself in with the wrong people and how he kept relying on Rachael to keep bailing him out when he got into trouble time and time again. Knowing what it was like to be in a situation like that Don could tell that even though, at times she despised Lucas for what he had done in the past she was breaking inside. He carried on listening as she rambled on.

"I spoke to my mother yesterday, she said he'd gone missing again but this, this is just too much." Her voice started to crack. "I...why was he even here? I don't..." Sighing, she realised that someone needed to make a dreaded call. "My mum needs to know, I should call her."

Don was about to open his mouth to speak when the shrill ringing of his cell stopped him, noticing Rachael jump at the noise he realised that the phone was in the coat he'd given to her. "I...um, need to get that." Pointing to the pocket he'd left it in.

"Oh, yeah sure. Sorry." Rachael's hands fumbled in the pocket and passed the buzzing object over to Don.

He quickly took the phone from her trembling fingers and looked at the screen to see who was on the other end of the line 'Mac Taylor'. Flack stood from the bench and took a couple of steps away with a curt 'excuse me' aimed in Rachael's direction he put the phone to his ear.

**XOXOXOX**

Rachael watched as Don slowly took a few steps away from her to answer the call, trying not to be rude and listen in to the conversation, but that was easier said than done; Don wasn't making any conscious effort to talk quietly so she couldn't hear, plus the fact he kept glancing over in her direction didn't disguise that whoever was on the other end of the line was talking about her and, more than likely Lucas.

Seeing Don slip the cell phone into the pocket of his charcoal grey suit jacket and heading back towards her made Rachael feel slightly nervous, she didn't know why. Hearing him clear his throat pulled her out of her thoughts. He looked almost apologetic. "That was Mac; you need to come with me to the station."

**XOXOXOX**

**Nikki A/N: **Hi everyone. I know I say this every time but BIG thanks for the reviews, alerts etc... I truly do appreciate each and every one. Okay now people, please bare with us hopefully things will start moving along quite swiftly. And hopefully you'll all continue reading, and hopefully enjoying!!!! :D**Mary A/N:** Helloha! AHH! Reviews! Many, many thanks to everyone who has read/reviewed/alerted and favourited, you dudes rock! Feel free to press the button again and have a fabulous day :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven:**

Rachael walked into the precinct with Don by her side to be met with the very stony face of Mac Taylor. The nervousness began to rise as she was lead past the desks in the bull ring, feeling the stares and hearing the whispers passing between the officers who filled the room, she noticed the familiar face of Jessica Angell as they passed her desk Rachael glanced over in her direction and felt the knots tighten in her stomach as Jessica gave her an uneasy smile.

At the very furthest end of the room stood Mac Taylor; all business. They walked completely in silence, with Rachael feeling astoundingly vulnerable. She had never, in all her twenty-seven years, been as exposed as she felt right at that moment. Flack glanced down at her, compelled to take her and pull her into his arms. And then he stopped, and checked himself. He was after all, most importantly, a detective. He had to be professional about all this.

Don opened the door to one of the interrogation rooms at the back of the precinct and let Mac and Rachael inside before stepping in himself and closing the door behind. Mac's look never faulted, as he signaled for Rachael to sit opposite the seat he had placed himself in.

Not knowing what was going on, Rachael felt sick. She sat, just as Mac had instructed, waiting to be informed of the situation, completely unaware to the onslaught she was about to receive.  
"Why didn't you tell us that you spoke to Lucas last night?" Mac questioned, trying his best to stay calm. He liked Rachael, everyone did; she was great at her job, one of the best in his lab and was beginning to fit in well with the rest of the team. He had even noticed the friendship that was forming between her and Stella. It was hard not to like her and seeing her so vulnerable earlier in the day when she had seen her brother come to his death on the video footage, his heart went out to her. But now, feeling deceived, he was struggling not to lose his patience with her.

Rachael frowned; she wasn't sure where this was going and what it had to do with Lucas's death. "I don't know why that's important."

Feeling the heat rise through his body, Mac raised his voice very slightly, but spoke evenly and calmly. "How is it not important Rachael? I checked his phone records; you were the last person he spoke to. For over three minutes, right before he walked into that alleyway. Right before he died."

She had flinched at the tone in Mac's voice and was completely shocked at what she had felt Mac had been insinuating. They thought she had something to do with this. Looking over to Don who was stood out of the way at the back of the room, she was met with a sympathetic smile.  
She cleared her throat and composed herself. "What are you trying to say, Mac?"

"I'm trying to say that I want to know what's going on. Did you have something to do with this?" The scary thing about a pissed off Mac Taylor was that his voice never once wavered, he just stayed entirely calm. He was frowning, leaning over the table.

Don stepped forward as Rachael felt the tears welling in her eyes. "Come on, Mac, we should-" He began to speak only to be cut off by Rachael.

"He...he called me last night, saying he was in trouble." Both of the other occupants in the room fell completely silent as they listened intently to Rachael speak of the previous night's events.

**XOXOXOX**

_(Flashback) _

_The conversation with her mother had drained the last bit of energy that Rachael had in her body. The shopping with Stella had been great fun and she'd decided to treat herself to a few nice items for her apartment, a huge vase which she had put on her kitchen table along with a few other bits to add some life to the dull rooms. She was putting her own stamp on the place. She still couldn't quite believe how Stella had talked her into buying a gorgeous little black dress, even though she didn't really need it and would probably never wear it._

_Even though she was exhausted, Rachael decided to unpack the last few remaining boxes full of the belongings she had transported from Miami. Pulling out things she thought that she'd decided not to pack Rachael sighed, realising as she glanced around the room it looked even more of a mess that it did before she decided to take a break._

_Rachael couldn't help but think about what her mother had said over the phone. Lucas. She'd had just about enough of his ridiculous antics, and he was supposed to be the older of the two. Well, he certainly didn't act like it._

_She had been more than surprised when he'd turned up on her doorstep in Miami eighteen months ago. Why hadn't she just turned him away when he said he needed her help, again? At the end of it all, he was still her brother. She couldn't just not help him. But when he had her bailing him out on a regular basis, putting her job on the line, things began to look a little different._

_It had been hard enough to gel with the team as it was when she'd arrived and then with them beginning to question her she had felt shut off completely from her friends._

_And then there was the final straw, he'd somehow gotten her involved with his misdoings; and she'd had to rely on Horatio Caine and the team to help out. Something that she hadn't taken to kindly to doing. She knew that H had been disappointed; not with her but with the entire situation._

_Horatio knew, and so did Rachael; that she couldn't be in Miami any longer. It wasn't safe, the gangs that Lucas had been involved with were in jail but they had too many contacts to keep her out of danger. There was no other option but to move, and Horatio knew that without disclosing anything about what had happened, Rachael would be safe in New York, so he had arranged the transfer without a hitch and no-one would question why she was moving._

_Lucas on the other hand, he had done another of his disappearing acts. No sign of him since, just an unusual feeling of calm. And here she was; her new home, New York._

_Pulled out of her thoughts by her cell phone ringing, she glanced at her phone, not recognising the number. She frowned and glanced at the clock; 11:38. She vaguely wondered who would be calling her at such an hour. Answering with a simple and bright "Hello?" she wasn't prepared to hear the voice on the other end. _

"_Rachael? It's Luc. I, um, I really need your help."_

"_Lucas? What are you doing? Why are you calling me?" Rachael was too angry to stay stunned for long. She couldn't – and wouldn't - handle this, not again._

"_Please, Rach, I need your help." Lucas pleaded with her, knowing it was a long shot. He'd put her through enough already, but this time, it was much worse. "I know, I shouldn't have called you, but...I'm in trouble. Rachael, its bad; I...I don't know what else to do...you always know what to do, Rach. Please, I have no one else to turn to."_

"_No, Lucas, No. I...I can't do this, not again." She held her breath, she had to do what was best for her, for once; "I'm sorry, but I can't. You sort this out yourself this time." Pulling the phone away from her ear she flipped it shut, effectively ending the call. Sliding down the wall which she had leant on for support, she held the phone in her hands, shaking. She felt the sobs escape her lips and warm tears fall down her cheeks._

_What had she done...?_

**XOXOXOX**

Rubbing his face with his hand, Mac took in all of what Rachael had just told him. Well, at least now he had some indication as to why Horatio Caine insisted that he took her on in his lab. But this matter wasn't concluded; he needed to know the full extent of what had happened in Miami. Right now finding out who killed Lucas was his priority.

Looking across at the broken lab tech sat across from him, he knew that he'd been harsh on her. But the evidence took him to her and now after hearing her side of the story he realised that he had been taken in the wrong direction. "Okay, you should have come to me with this right away, Rachael."

"This is my fault. If only I'd helped him, maybe he'd still be okay." Rachael felt the tears, but she ignored them.

"And maybe if you had helped him, it would have been you down there in the morgue."  
A light tap at the door caught their attention, looking over they saw Adam Ross stood awkwardly at the door, only entering when instructed to. "Um...boss? You need to see this..."

Mac stood from his seat and nodded to Adam, before turning back to Rachael with a weak smile. "You know you can't be anywhere near this case. I don't want anything compromised. I need you to take some time, let us figure out who did this."

Rachael sighed and nodded very quietly. "Thanks, Mac."

He disappeared from the room with a nod and headed towards the lab with Adam.  
Using the table to support herself, Rachael edged her way out of the seat she had been hunched uncomfortably in. Feeling the weight on her shoulders lifting slightly, she took a moment to compose herself before she left the room. She knew she looked like crap. She'd been crying for some time so there was no doubt that her eyes were all red and puffy and probably had streaks of mascara down her cheeks, but there wasn't much she could do about that right now.

She also knew Mac was right and what she needed was to go home, have a nice hot bath and try to get some sleep though she knew that could prove to be difficult.  
Don stepped forward from his space beside the glass window and held the door open for Rachael to leave; when she looked up at him, he gave her a small warming smile. "You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Giving him an unconvincing smile in return, she walked straight ahead of him, this time unfazed by the crowd in the precinct. "I always am."

**XOXOXOX**

**Mary A/N:** Hello there, Readers! Dunno about Nikki, but I love this chapter! The Flack part just gets to me. Anywho, thanks again for the alerts/reviews and whatnot, we really appreciate it :)  
Feel free to press the button!

**Nikki A/N:** Hi everyone, so here is chapter 7!! I have to agree with M I do also really like this chapter too so I hope you've all enjoyed reading it! I just really wanted to do Flack being good cop and Mac being bad cop, so I hope it worked and you thought it worked okay too!! Once again thank you so, so much for the reviews, adds and alerts! And pretty please, keep them coming!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight:**

Mac had walked straight to the lab along with Adam after his 'chat' with Rachael, curious as to what Adam had found. In the darkness of the AV lab, Mac found himself in front of the large screen, the image of Lucas Garcia staring down at him. There was more than a passing resemblance between him and his sister, the same warm eyes, same honey blonde hair. Lucas was thin, strangely so. Danny and Lindsay had figured he'd been out on the streets for a while.

"What was so important Adam?"

"Well, I um, studied the tape and I think I've picked something up right...here." Adam paused the footage and played it back in slow motion. A slight flash moved across the screen, and disappeared out of sight. "I think it's the murder weapon, looks like it could be a knife."

"Adam, we didn't find anything at the scene. Danny and I went through everything in that alleyway and we found nothing."

Adam rubbed his forehead with his index finger. "I know boss, but...okay I don't know, maybe...somehow you missed something." _Idiot! You don't tell the boss that maybe he somehow missed something!_ Adam inwardly cursed himself.

A silence ensued. Mac didn't look impressed. And then he turned back to the screen. "Okay, play that back to me again." He carefully studied the footage for the umpteenth time. "The window."

Adam glanced at Mac, confused. "The window?"

"There was a broken window down the alley, but no glass at the scene to suggest that it had anything to do with the murder, it was already broken." Mac headed out of the room in search of Danny. They had to get back to the crime scene.

**XOXOXOX  
**

Danny headed back into the alleyway with Mac walking a step ahead of him. "So, whadda we looking for, Mac?"

"The footage showed one of our suspects tossing what looked to be the murder weapon in this direction." Mac spoke, pointing from where the object had been thrown.

"We checked the whole alley and we found nothing. Zip, nada-"

"I know, but this window..." Mac pointed again, this time to a pane less window in a door. Looking to where the object had been thrown from and then back towards the hole, Danny was bemused, unsure as to what his boss was suggesting. To slice the risk of looking stupid, however, he kept his mouth shut, but kept an eyebrow arched quizzically.

"Our suspect tossed the weapon through the window, which had already been broken." Mac pulled out his flashlight to take a closer look through the gaping hole in the door, where he was met with a shining glint from the blade...they had found the murder weapon. He signalled for Danny to take at look at his findings with a satisfied look on his face "Let's hope we find some prints on that thing."

"Whoever tossed this," Danny pointed through the glass. "Would've been a great pitcher for the Yankees"

**XOXOXOX**

After heading back to the lab, Danny processed the knife he and Mac had found in the abandoned warehouse. He had matched the blood to Lucas Garcia confirming this was the weapon they were looking for; he now hoped the prints he'd pulled would come up with something. Lifting his glasses from his face he pinched the bridge of his nose, this case had taken its toll on him, and everyone else in the lab. He knew it had been hard on Rachael. Unable to do anything she'd sat idly by and waited on some new piece of information. Stretching in his seat, Danny smiled at the sight of his new, very pregnant wife waddle into the room. "Hey babe, thought you were heading home?"

Lindsay smiled back to her husband as she approached where he was seated; resting her hand on his shoulders she placed a gentle kiss to his head. "I was, but then I heard you and Mac found the knife that killed Rachael's brother." She said with a sigh. "You got anything off it yet?"

"Just ran the prints and am currently waiting for a match. Have you spoken to her?"

"No, not yet; I don't really know what to say. Flack was gonna call by her place and check up on her later, I think he likes her." She giggled.

Danny rolled his eyes. Ever the matchmaker.

He raised an eyebrow to his wife as the computer noisily beeped before them "Boom...we gotta match"

Lindsay peered over his shoulder to see who the print had matched to "Hector Lopez, has priors for assault, rape and the list goes on; wow sounds like a nice guy" She commented sarcastically.

"Linds, this is huge; I'm gonna go find Mac. You; need to go home"

"Yeah I'm going" she shrugged giving Danny a small kiss as they parted.

Danny found Mac in his office looking over paperwork. "Hey Mac, we got a hit. Blood on the knife is Lucas's and the prints belong to this guy" He passed the computer tablet over to his boss so he could see the findings.

"Okay, let's go find him."

**XOXOXOX**

Flack knocked quietly on the door in front of him, folding his arms he leant against the frame waiting for it to open. He was just about to knock again when it slowly opened, revealing a tired looking Rachael Garcia.

She gave him a smile "Hi" stepping to the side to let him into her apartment "You want something?"

He glanced around the room, noting the various pictures sat on the side table and large elaborate television stand, the little things that seemed so fitting to Rachael's personality; he turned to face her and returned the weak smile that she was giving to him. "No, I just wanted to make sure you were okay; I know you said you'll be fine, but I'm not convinced."

Rachael's smile grew into a slightly more genuine one, she definitely wasn't expecting him to turn up at her place but she was pleased that he had. Maybe Stella had been right.

"I will be fine, promise" She moved into her kitchen with Don in tow, switching her kettle on to boil the water she pulled two mugs from the cupboard "I think I owe you a coffee, you want one?"

"Yeah sure; this is a nice place you got here"

"Thanks, it's taken too long to make it look nice though" She had to admit that she did feel a little bit uncomfortable, she wasn't used to having visitors turning up unannounced and the fact that she hadn't gotten around to showering and cleaning herself up she knew she still looked like crap. "You know I still can't get my head around this"

"You will, you know you've got friends here to help and to talk to"

"Thanks, that's always good to know" The awkwardness lifted from between them as they slipped into conversation, well it mainly consisted of her rambling.

"Did you call your ma?" He knew it wasn't the greatest question, but he had to ask.

"Uh, yeah; she's flying over should be here tomorrow evening. I'm just glad that she's staying in a hotel and not here; I'm not too sure I could cope with that. I know that sounds selfish but my mother, well she is a bit much sometimes" Rachael let out a slight laugh at the thought of her mum. She certainly was something.

"What about your pa?" The smile disappeared from her face as soon as the words had escaped his mouth.

"Ah, well we um...we don't speak to him anymore. He's probably the reason Lucas turned out like he did."

Don noticed the sad, cold look that had entered her eyes. He reached over and placed a hand gently on her arm. "Rachael, I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry"

She felt the electricity shoot through her arm as he touched her. The more she kept from her new friends the more she was going to alienate herself from them, she had found that out in Miami, she began to feel more at ease the more she told people about herself.

The ringing of a cell phone filled the room; Don pulled it from his pocket and answered rather abruptly. "Flack"

Rachael busied herself in the kitchen whilst he took the call, she didn't know who was on the other end but she knew it was work and could her pretty much everything that Don had to say.

"Really, yeah okay; I'll be there in ten" He hung up the phone as Rachael walked back into the lounge where he was standing. "Hey, that was Danny; I gotta go"

She raised her eyebrows quizzically; if it was Danny on the phone then it was probably something to do with Lucas. Don knew she'd figured that out.

"Look, I probably shouldn't be saying this but he found something. We got a lead; and a suspect"

"Oh, okay. Well you have to go; I know it's asking a lot, but you'll keep me in the loop. Just a little bit?" She asked, hoping that he would; but knowing that he more than likely couldn't.

He smiled at her bluntness "I'll see what I can do" He wasn't sure why he'd done it; but in a matter of seconds he'd closed the gap between them, leant towards her and gently brushed his lips against hers. Almost as quickly as he'd done it he backed away "I'm sorry, I shouldn't of done that; I have to go"

A surprised and confused Rachael stood glued to the spot, she just watched as he closed the door behind him; trying to comprehend what had just happened. She knew that under different circumstances _that_ would have been different.

**XOXOXOX**

Flack rubbed a hand through his hair and started up the Sedan and headed to meet Mac and Danny at the warehouse where they were expecting to find Hector Lopez, and hopefully the other suspect they were yet to identify.

Pulling up the building he spotted the pair at the back of the Avalanche strapping the vests to their bodies, from what Danny had told him over the phone Hector was a very dangerous guy and things in the warehouse could potentially turn messy quite quickly.

He stepped from the vehicle and strapped on his own vest before joining Mac and Danny. "So we know if he's actually in there?" he questioned.

"Let's hope so huh" Mac replied as he walked towards the building with the other two men following closely behind. "This guy _will_ be armed, and there could be several dangerous people inside; watch your back at all times."

They approached the large open metal door on the front of the warehouse with several other armed cops alongside them, Mac turned to both Flack and Danny with a nod before barging through the entrance "NYPD, Don't move" He held his gun towards a tall, burly looking man who certainly wasn't Hector Lopez; as he slowly edged towards a small wooden door on the back wall of the building.

The sudden sound of gunfire filled the room and the three detectives moved behind the large metal crates scattered around the space to shelter from the bullets being pelted in their direction as the burly man made his escape. The noise stopped momentarily, Don gave Mac and Danny a knowing look and signalled to the other officers who had entered the building to cover before the three of them quickly headed to the door at the back of the room after the man that had disappeared moments before; and hopefully to find Hector.

They cautiously made their way through the door, guns raised. Turning to where the noise had come from they spotted their suspect; Hector Lopez. Flack and Mac made their way towards him whilst Danny kept an eye out for any unwanted guests.

Lopez stumbled as he weaved his way through the obstacles blocking his way as he ran, glancing back he noticed the detectives were catching up to him. Unaware of the box that lay in front of him, with a thud he hit the ground; giving Flack chance to cuff him before he could escape.

Mac approached as Flack was dragging Lopez to his feet "Hector Lopez; you're under arrest for the murder of Lucas Garcia"

Lopez growled "Murder, I ain't done no murder"

**XOXOXOX**

Back at the precinct Flack paced the interrogation room whilst Mac sat, stone faced opposite Hector Lopez. "I have _your_ prints on the knife that _you_ killed Lucas Garcia with, so don't tell me you don't know anything about the murder Hector" Mac barked.

Flack stepped closer to the table and placed his hands on his hips "I could pin this all on you; but I know you didn't do it alone and I'm greedy. So tell us who your partner is"

"Naw man; you got it wrong. I ain't got no partner." Lopez smirked.

They were both losing their patience which the Hispanic man sat on the other side of the table, clad in a garish green shirt unbuttoned revealing a dirty white wife beater; just visible at the top of the rounded neckline of the vest was a tattoo. Mac knew this was a gang tat, but one he'd never seen before. He opened the file that he had placed on the table and pulled out a photograph; a still that Adam had pulled from the CCTV footage, clearly showing _two_ men attacking Lucas and shoved it towards Hector. "If that's right, then why are there two people in this picture attacking him?" Mac pushed.

The smug look on Hector's face dropped "I ain't sayin' nothin' man" He shrugged.

Flack had had enough "Right, get up" He barked and placed the cuffs back around Lopez's wrist before shoving him towards the officer that was stood by the door. "Get him outta here"

Her rubbed a hand across his face and sighed as he closed the door behind Hector and the officer as they left the room.

"Somehow Flack, we'll find him" Mac was pissed, he hadn't expected Hector to roll on his partner without a push; but he wasn't budging one bit.

"Yeah"

**XOXOXOX**

**Nikki A/N: **Hey everyone, right well this is one chapter I was particularly concerned about, I know M loves it and I really do hope you all like it, I know that was a little bit of a random moment and possibly inappropriate but it's done, so pretty please let me know what you all think! Also, just a quick heads up the next few chapter won't be posted as quickly as the last few have, unfortunately I have got too much RL stuff going on that is taking up far too much time so I won't have as much chance to write as much!! Again BIG thanks for all the reviews, alerts and whatnot! Oooh, and I also want to mention that the title of the story 'With Every Heartbeat' is actually a song originally by Robyn, but it was covered by Girls Aloud which is the version I kinda worked from and it sounds beautiful, just wanted to mention that so if you find it go have a listen! Nik :D

**Mary A/N: **Mary A/N: Hello! Well!!! Bet ya'll weren't expecting that :D  
To be honest, neither was I, but I love it!! Ahem, anywho, a massive thanks to all who have read and reviewed thus far - and alerted, and favourited! -, please, please, please feel free to press the wee button, we'd appreciate it very much :D


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